Travel for its own sake seems to have fascinated Verne. In Keraban the Inflexible (1883), the Turkish hero is so angry at having to pay a fee to cross the Bosporus that instead he circles the Black Sea just to avoid the toll. Rail travel is the topic of Claudius Bombarnac (1894); Bombarnac is a journalist riding the newly opened Trans-Siberian Railroad. Even a travel agency takes the spotlight in another novel by Verne: The Thompson Travel Agency (1907) offers a low-cost trip to the Canary Islands. In order to make a profit, the agency provides no inland transportation, not even food or water, to its unfortunate tour group. Only the help of its French interpreter rescues them, and provides a happy ending.